Planning a company end of year retreat is one of the most exciting aspects of working with diverse teams.
However, deciding how to go about it can be difficult. A great retreat experience shows your team how much you appreciate them, their contributions, and their talent.
A company retreat could be a fun event where employees gather to spend time with families and enjoy activities while working together as a team.
Consider creating a business or industry-specific retreat that covers topics such as making business connections through social media, financial management strategies and managing career transitions. You could also hold a team-building event on behalf of clients or partners.
As the year ends, it is critical that you plan for and prepare your employees to enjoy themselves as well. This will guarantee that you don’t overlook any possibilities for your team members’ growth and development.
Why Do You Need an End-of-Year Retreat?
There is always an avenue to improve your organisation’s team building, communication, leadership, and ways to align vision. Team building events and retreats are excellent ways to accomplish this.
-
Reflection in business
Things can get quite hectic throughout the calendar year, and travel schedules frequently clash. Making time as a group to take a step back and examine the company with a magnifying glass is critical to your progress.
You should concentrate on evaluating the state of your business in terms of performance and how you get things done. Also, allow every team member to share ideas that would benefit the company and culture.
-
Aligning vision and setting goals
Teams must be aware of the result to be successful. You have nothing to aim for if you don’t have a destination. Teams work through a series of challenges and activities to achieve the result during a team-building event.
This shared sense of purpose can be transferred back to workplace goals and deadlines, aligning with your organisation’s overall mission for the following year.
-
Improve your team members’ social connections
This entails developing a deliberate agenda and environment that promotes natural interactions among team members.
Consider each moment an opportunity to build and strengthen relationships through work, activities, or meal sharing. In the end, your team culture will benefit.
As a multinational, creating an inclusive and comprehensive end-of-year retreat is essential to your team building. So, the first step to including your African talent in your end-of-year retreat is to build an inclusive and comprehensive framework.
That can be done by engaging with your key influencers, suppliers, employees and all other stakeholders involved in making the end-of-the-year event a success.
Steps to Planning an End-of-Year Retreat
1. Run a survey
To begin, it’s critical to understand your team’s feelings about the possibility of an employee retreat.
Some people may have hectic schedules. Checking in with your African employees for their best company retreat ideas is also good. However, surveying your global team is more than just gathering their first impressions.
Set a good example by demonstrating that your employees have a say in decision-making. Your survey should collect information on desired destinations and when they are available.
In many cases, a dedicated PEO, such as Workforce Africa, can even assist you in organising and analysing feedback from your team during these early stages.
2. Determine your staff retreat’s objectives
The first step in organising a company retreat is to identify and write down the retreat’s goals.
Whether you own a large, medium, or small business or serve on one of the planning committees, you must begin by emphasising the purpose of the team retreat.
What do you hope to gain from the retreat? As a global company, particularly if you have talent in Africa, you must learn to draw your end-of-year retreat goals to include your talent in the various African countries where you have them domiciled.
The purpose of your retreat will serve as a compass to guide you through the planning process.
3. Make a plan
The team retreat will likely be your company’s most remembered event of the year, so plan ahead to ensure it’s for the right reasons.
What will make the end-of-year retreat stand out? What will make it fruitful? You want your employee to talk about how much they achieved and how much fun they had when they returned to work.
They’ll talk about it if they just had a good time, but it won’t have a long-term impact on your organisation. And if they only did work, they’ll consider the retreat a waste of time.
Combining work and play makes a retreat memorable for your team and organisation.
4. Choose a relevant theme
To ensure that the entire team is on the same page for the corporate retreat, it is important to choose a theme.
Consult with the leadership team and discuss the following questions when selecting a theme for your company retreat: What are the main business challenges we currently face as an organisation?
What are our most important objectives for the coming year? What personal or professional challenges do the team members face? After this end-of-year retreat, what does the team require to feel motivated and aligned with the organisation?
5. Select a location
When selecting a global team retreat location, you must strike a balance. Finding a location with enough space to create a comfortable and social environment that encourages both relaxation and productivity is critical.
Find a suitable location for your employees to assemble, considering they may be located in different states and African countries.
Is your group prepared to travel? Do you want something closer to home? A remote location away from the stress of the workplace, or even something to get people out of their daily routine, can benefit your organisation’s mental health.
Many global businesses have created experiences in various parts of the world. You can also decide to have your employees gather in a specific location in each country, with a videoconference plan in place to allow them to interact with colleagues in other African countries.
If you decide to work with a remote team retreat partner, ensure that they have established end-of-year retreat activity spaces and a track record of successfully executing team retreats.
6. Create team-building exercises
Unsurprisingly, global team retreat activities should appeal to many people. As the company retreat planner, make sure to plan these activities after determining the retreat’s goals.
Consider whether the venue suits the events you want to host. Some venues incorporate team-building activities into their programs, which can help to reduce overall costs.
Most importantly, your African team should feel challenged but not isolated during the events. This is a delicate exercise that necessitates an understanding of your team’s personalities and preferences.
Consider the following as a starting point when organising your end-of-the-year retreat: Play an icebreaker Game, split into teams and play physical sports or mental strategy games, Karaoke, brainstorming session etc.
7. Consider hiring an event planner
Planning an employee retreat is a lot of work. If you don’t think your team has the capacity to cover all of these details, you might want to consider hiring a professional event planner.
Workforce Africa, for example, is dedicated to planning company retreats and will assist you in selecting a destination and retreat venue, planning your itinerary and activities, and taking care of logistical details.
A staff retreat is an important opportunity for your team members to bond, share stories, and reflect on the year’s accomplishments thus far.
In addition, it’s an excellent time for your global staff to reconnect with local management and learn about new leadership practices that can help improve their experience at work.
Planning a corporate retreat can be daunting, but the right tools, resources, and planning processes will make all the difference.
All of this allows you to plan enjoyable and rewarding retreats for your entire staff, which is always the end goal to remember.
Are you ready to start planning your next company retreat? Get in touch with us at hello@workforceafrica.com if you have any questions.